Media Service Delivery System Providing Conditional Access to Media Content from Various Client Devices

1. A computing apparatus for conditionally rendering media content delivered over a network from a remote media service provider server via a local middleman server, the media rendering apparatus comprising a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the media rendering apparatus to: locate, by a user interface, desired media content; request, by the network interface, the desired media content from the remote media service provider server via the local middleman server; send, by a network interface, a device ID associated with the media rendering apparatus to the remote media service provider server via the local middleman server; conditionally receive, by the network interface, the requested media content upon verification, by the remote media service provider server based on the device ID, whether the remote media rendering device is approved to receive the requested media content; and render and play, by a media renderer, the received requested media content for output by the media rendering apparatus.

2. The computing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the device ID uniquely identifies the type of media rendering apparatus to make a request for media content.

3. The computing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the device ID includes at least one of the following for the media rendering apparatus: a manufacturer ID, a model number, a serial number, a MAC address, a portion of a MAC address, or a digital signature.

4. The computing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the user interface of the media rendering apparatus is configured to communicate with the remote media service provider server to allow a user to provide an approved rating range for media content to be associated with the media rendering apparatus on the local network.

5. The computing apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the request for desired media content by the media rendering apparatus is denied if the requested media content has a rating outside the approved rating range for the requesting media rendering apparatus.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the requested media content is an audio file and the approved rating range for the requesting media rending apparatus specifies that no parental advisory content should be delivered to the requesting media rending apparatus.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the request to access desired media content from the media service provider by the media rendering apparatus is only approved, if the media rendering apparatus has no digital output for received media content.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the media rendering apparatus is further associated with at least one subscriber to a media service and each subscriber is limited to a predetermined maximum of concurrent sessions between the media service provider and different media rendering apparatus.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein each subscriber pays a fee for the media service that is based, at least in part, on a predetermined maximum of concurrent sessions allowed.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein each subscriber pays a fee for the media service that is based, at least in part, on the number of different media rendering apparatus that are approved to receive protected media content.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein each subscriber pays a fee for the media service that is based, at least in part, on the types of different media rendering apparatus that are approved to receive protected media content.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the requested media content is an audio file delivered to the media rendering apparatus over the Internet.

13. A non-transient computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a processor, configure the processor to: store, in memory, a device ID associated with a media rendering device; locate, by a user interface of the media rendering device, desired media content; generate, by a processing module, a request for the desired media content; send, by a network interface, the device ID and/or the request for the desired media content to a remote media service provider server via a local middleman server; and conditionally receive, by the network interface, the requested media content upon verification, by the media service provider server based on the received device ID, that the requested media content is approved for use by the media rendering device.

14. The storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the device ID includes at least one of the following for the media rendering device: a manufacturer ID, a model number, a serial number, a MAC address, a portion of a MAC address, or a digital signature.

15. The storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions further configure the processor to prepare, by a media renderer, the conditionally received requested media content for output by the media rendering device.

16. The storage medium of claim 15 , wherein rendering is only approved, if the media rendering device has no digital output for received media content.

17. A computer-implemented method for conditionally rendering media content delivered over a network from a remote media service provider server via a local middleman server to a media rendering device, the method comprising: generating, by the media rendering device, a request for desired media content; transmitting, by the media rendering device, the request for the desired media content to the remote media service provider server via the local middleman server; verifying, by the media rendering device to the remote media service provider server via the local middleman server, a device ID associated with the media rendering device to determine whether the media rendering device is approved to receive the requested media content; receiving, by the media rendering device, approved media content; and rendering, by the media rendering device, the received approved media content.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , wherein the device ID uniquely identifies the type of media rendering device and includes at least one of the following for the media rendering apparatus: a manufacturer ID, a model number, a serial number, a MAC address, a portion of a MAC address, or a digital signature.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , wherein the verifying includes determining if the requested media content has a rating outside an approved rating range for the requesting media rendering device.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , wherein the verifying includes determining if the requesting media rendering device is associated with a subscriber approved to receive the desired media content at the requesting media rendering device.